Hawking at Nehru Place: HC asks officials to be present on August 24

New Delhi, Aug. 16: The Delhi high court has directed the presence of police commissioner, commissioner of SDMC, and vice chairman of DDA before it on August 24 if the agencies fail to file their status report in a case concerning hawking at Nehru Place, a no-vending zone, and its maintenance.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh, which took suo motu cognisance of an incident of fire in a building at Nehru Place, District Commercial Centre, directed the police and SDMC to ensure on a daily basis that there is no hawking and vending resorted to at Nehru Place, District Commercial Centre, by any person who does not have an operative order of protection granted by any court.

It further ordered that the authorities hold a joint meeting and file status reports on the implementation of the no-hawking, no-vending policy in the area.

Looking at the urgency of the matter, it is made clear that no further time shall be granted for filing of the status reports to any department. In case the status reports are not filed, the commissioner, Delhi police; commissioner, SDMC; and vice chairman, DDA, as the case may be, shall remain present on the next date of hearing, the court said in its order dated August 13.

Notice was also issued by the court to the public works department of the Delhi government on the case, asking it to clarify why there was delay in the process of carrying out works in the area.

The court noted that in between high-rise buildings in the area, hawkers and vendors have claimed the pavement area which was meant for circulation of people.

The enormity of the problem caused by the hawkers and vendors at the Nehru Place area can be seen from a video circulated on social media, which shows that it was difficult for the fire tenders to access the building where the fire broke out, the court added.

Considering that the area was a no-hawking-andvending zone, the court observed that it was difficult to understand how a person, who is not protected by court orders, can continue to occupy any space and hawk or vend without the connivance and blessings of the concerned local authorities.

The court also said that a video on social media showed complete lack of any cleanliness or maintenance on the part of the municipal authorities.